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76 CLASSIC MEDIA CONFERENCEOctober 31, 2011Lon KrugerTIM SIMMONS: Coach Kruger, just give us a comment about your pre-season practicing to date. COACH KRUGER: Guys are working really hard. Couldn't be any more pleased by their effort, their enthusiasm for having a good basketball team. They've progressed in the last 10 days. We've got a long way to go like all teams in the country at this point in time. Excited to line up in our first exhibition game tomorrow night and another one on Sunday to let us know where we stand. TIM SIMMONS: You had a different school last year, winning the tournament. Did that success you had last year help you prepare for this year's tournament? COACH KRUGER: As a coaching staff we're a little bit more familiar with the setting. We love the tournament, having the hotel right there, walk across the breezeway to the arena is a great setting. ESPN folks were extremely hospitable. The banquet on Wednesday night was fantastic. The staff, we know it's a first-class event, and it will be a lot of fun for our guys. TIM SIMMONS: Can you highlight some of the players, since you have a new team, that have impressed you in pre-season practices? COACH KRUGER: The leading scorers from last year, Andrew Fitzgerald, Cameron Clark, Steve Pledger, all doing a really good job. They've worked awfully hard in the off-season, made progress. Again, like I mentioned earlier, they want to have a good game and willing to work at it. Anxious to see how they transfer things from practice to a game situation. TIM SIMMONS: We'll open the floor to questions. Q. Coach, after these four games before you go to the 76 Classic whether or not you think you'll have a better beat on your team and what they're capable of this season? COACH KRUGER: For sure we will. We'll have a lot better understanding every time we play, given everything is new for our guys, understanding what our players are going to do in a game situation. Each game I think we'll make progress with regard to understanding where we're at, what we need to do, what the prospects are going forward. Q. Have you seen any of Washington State over the past couple of years, watching tape of them leading into this season? COACH KRUGER: Not really seen them very much. We'll, of course, a couple, three games of tape, just like they'll have of us, prior to the tournament. Know they'll play sound basketball. Coach Bone's teams always do a good job and are very good on both ends of the floor. Q. Do you have a finish in mind for this? Would you like to win the tournament, the first two games? COACH KRUGER: Of course, all eight teams would like to win the tournament. More importantly, with an early-season tournament, it's getting game experience against a good level of competition, coming out of the tournament with a little better idea of where we stand in terms of conference play. Q. Coach, how similar is the rebuilding job you're facing at Oklahoma, how similar or dissimilar is it to what you faced at UNLV? COACH KRUGER: Anytime there's a transition it's probably a bigger adjustment for the players than the coaching staff. The coaching staff goes in with a little idea what we'd like to see accomplished, offensively, defensively, always adjusting to the personnel, which you have to do in any new situation. I guess probably more similar in terms of things are new, expectations are new, the terminology is new for the players. But similar to the fact that when there's change, players are approaching with enthusiasm, anxious to get started, get into the game portion of our schedule, see where we stand. TIM SIMMONS: Coach, how did the tournament help your team last year? Did you see any positive effects from the tournament as you went on with last season? COACH KRUGER: Playing three games in four days is really good from the standpoint to find out where you're at conditioning-wise, the chemistry of your team, seeing different defenses, different offenses that you're working against. Again, three in four days is really helpful because you come out of that tournament, you go back with a few days of practice with a much better idea of what you need to work on, where you'd like to go. Q. Coach, talking about the comparisons with UNLV and Oklahoma, can you talk about the fan experience. COACH KRUGER: UNLV, it was similar. The fans for the Classic traveled pretty well, four hours over there from Vegas. It's always about trying to create an atmosphere, trying to work with the fans to help you develop a home-court advantage, good atmosphere in the building for the players. It's similar. We'd like to get that here at Oklahoma, getting the students out, energized, the band, the cheer, it's always a cornerstone for a good environment. TIM SIMMONS: Coach, in the second round, you might be playing New Mexico. What do you think of that? COACH KRUGER: They'll be very good. I know they'll be very well-coached. Steve Alford does a terrific job, has good players coming back from a year ago, with a good team a year ago. It would be a team that's well-prepared on both ends of the floor, be a fun, exciting ballgame. TIM SIMMONS: What did you think about Oklahoma beating Kansas State last week? COACH KRUGER: That was tough on the Wildcats. I think it probably wasn't good for the Wildcats that Oklahoma lost the week before to Texas Tech. The Sooners went up to Manhattan and took out some frustrations especially the second half. TIM SIMMONS: Coach, thank you very much. We look forward to seeing you. COACH KRUGER: Thank you. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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